Adrian Peterson faced life-threatening issue last year

As excited as he is to play in his first preseason game in two years, Adrian Peterson told the Sporting News on Tuesday, if the NFL preseason were shortened in the name of player safety, “it wouldn’t bother me at all.’’

“Three games, two games – that would be fine with me,’’ said the reigning NFL Most Valuable Player, who sat out all of last season’s exhibition games as a precaution after tearing his ACL the previous December.

Vikings' running back Adrian Peterson has empathy for Robert Griffin III, but said the coaches have the players' best interest in mind. (AP photo)

Like nearly everybody in and around the NFL, Peterson has noticed the volume of serious, often season-ending injuries in training camp and, so far, during the first three weeks of preseason games.

“It definitely exposes you to being injured, because you’re out there playing football, and things happen,’’ he said. “But you can’t set your mind on it, because you just have to go out there and play.

“They might want to shorten it to three games, though; I could see that … It’s no benefit to players at all— well, it benefits young guys who are trying to make the roster. But everybody else, no. It really doesn’t need to be four. Have controlled scrimmages, maybe, instead of games.’’

Peterson was doing a round of interviews to drum up support for the EpiPen auto-injector that saved his life a year ago, when he had a severe allergic reaction after eating a bowl of gumbo at the Vikings training camp.

He signed on with the company in May and, while steering the public toward its website, has re-told the story of how, after chowing down the gumbo at his training-camp dorm after practice last July, his throat started to close and he couldn’t breathe. He had been able to call team trainer Eric Sugarmen, but until he showed up with the epinephrine injector, “I thought I was going to die.’’

A subsequent test revealed an unknown shellfish allergy. “I was 27 at the time. I’d been eating shellfish all my life,’’ he said. Now, like many (but not enough) suffering with food allergies, he carries the portable injector everywhere in case of emergencies.

Peterson is expected to play Sunday in San Francisco, a privilege he missed a year ago when he was held out of the entire preseason. Because of that, he can relate to Robert Griffin III—he’s been watching and listening to the Redskins quarterback, who, like him, is advocating for playing preseason games before returning from his torn ACL in the regular-season opener.

“I want to reach out to him, see how he’s feeling,’’ Peterson said. “He’s a young fella, he’s put in the work, and I feel like anyone who has put their minds to something and has put in that work should get an opportunity to play. I always root for guys like him.”

But, he added, he understood where Washington’s coaching and medical staff stand on Griffin’s playing. “I’m rooting him on to play in that first game,’’ Peterson said. “I’m sure (Griffin) has shown them enough to say he’s healthy and strong and ready to play, but as a head coach, he’s over him, and you can understand why he wants to wait until the regular season.

“He’s really the face of the franchise. They have to take care of that.’’